1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to message correlation of the type wherein one or more messages originating from a network element require correlation with messages originating from other network element.
2. Background Art
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture, and other similar architectures, define protocols and interfaces that support accounting mechanisms. These accounting mechanisms allow a network operator and/or service provider to gather information related to a particular session from various network elements. This information may include things such as when a session began and ended, when QoS resources were reserved, committed and released, when a particular feature was invoked, etc.
Such an accounting mechanism requires the ability to correlate the different messages generated by separate network elements so that a complete record about a particular set of related events can be viewed together. 3GPP IMS requires that a particular network element create a unique identifier (called a correlation ID), and then pass that identifier to each network element involved in the session so that they all use the same identifier when reporting accounting events. This mechanism requires that the network element generating the correlation ID retain this information across an entire session, which increases memory and other processing demands on the network elements.